THE LOST HALF-SOVEREIGN.
"Children should not leave about
Anything that's small and bright;
Lest the fairies spy it out,
And fly off with it at night."
_Poems written for a child._
There was no buzzy sound in Mrs. White's garden this afternoon. It was
far too early in the year for that, indeed it was beginning to feel
quite chilly and cold, as the afternoons often do of fine days in early
spring, and by the time Floss and Carrots had eaten their cake, and
examined all the rose bushes to see if they could find any buds, and
wished it were summer, so that there would be some strawberries hiding
under the glossy green leaves, they began to wonder why nurse was so
long--and to feel rather cold and tired of waiting.
"Just run to the door, Carrots, dear," said Floss, "and peep in to see
if nurse is coming."
She did not like to go herself, for she knew that nurse and Mrs. White
were fond of a comfortable talk together and might not like to be
interrupted by her. But Carrots they would not mind.
Carrots set off obediently, but before he got to the door he met nurse
coming out. She was followed by Mrs. White and both were talking rather
earnestly.
"You'll let me know, if so be as you find it, Mrs. Hooper; you won't
forget?" Mrs. White was saying--Hooper was nurse's name--"for I feel
quite uneasy--I do that, for you."
"I'll let you know, and thank you, Mrs. White," said nurse. "I'm glad I
happened to bring some of my own money with me too, for I should have
been sorry to put you to any ill-convenience by my carelessness--though
how I could have been so careless as to mislay it, I'm sure it's more
than I can say."
"It is, indeed, and you so careful," said Mrs. White sympathisingly.
Just then nurse caught sight of Carrots.
"Come along, Master Carrots," she said, "I was just going to look for
you. Wherever's Miss Floss? We must be quick; it's quite time we were
home."
"I'll tell Floss," said Carrots, disappearing again down the path, and
in another moment Floss and he ran back to nurse.
Though they had been very quick, nurse seemed to think they had been
slow. She even scolded Floss a very little as if she had been kept
waiting by her and Carrots, when she was in a hurry to go, and both
Floss and Carrots felt that this was very hard when the fact was that
they had been waiting for nurse till they were both tired and cold.
"It wasn't Floss's fault. Floss wanted _you_ to come quick, and she
sended me to see," said Carrots indignantly.
"Hold your tongue, Master Carrots," said nurse sharply.
Carrots' face got very red, he gave nurse one reproachful look, but did
not speak. He took Floss's hand and pulled her on in front. But Floss
would not go; she drew her hand away.
"No, Carrots, dear," she said in a low voice, "it wouldn't be kind to
leave nurse all alone when she is sorry about something."
"Is she sorry about something?" said Carrots.
"Yes," replied Floss, "I am sure she is. You run on for a minute. I want
to speak to nurse."
Carrots ran on and Floss stayed behind.
"Nurse," she said softly, slipping her hand through nurse's arm, which,
by stretching up on tip-toe, she was just able to do, "nurse, dear,
what's the matter?"
"Nothing much, Miss Flossie," replied nurse, patting the kind little
hand, "nothing much, but I'm growing an old woman and easy put out--and
such a stupid like thing for me to have done!"
"What have you done? What is stupid?" inquired Floss, growing curious as
well as sympathising.
"I have lost a half-sovereign--a ten-shilling piece in gold, Miss
Flossie," replied nurse.
"Out of your pocket--dropped it, do you mean?" said Floss.
"Oh no--I had it in my purse--at least I thought I had," said nurse. "It
was a half-sovereign of your mamma's that she gave me to pay Mrs. White
with for Master Jack's things and part of last week that was left over,
and I wrapped it up with a shilling and a sixpence--it came to eleven
and six, altogether--in a piece of paper, and put it in my drawer in the
nursery, and before I came out I put the packet in my purse. And when I
opened it at Mrs. White's no half-sovereign was there! Only the shilling
and the sixpence!"
"You didn't drop it at Mrs. White's, did you? Should we go back and
look?" said Floss, standing still, as if ready to run off that moment.
"No, no, my dear. It's not at Mrs. White's. She and I searched all over,
and she's as honest a body as could be," replied nurse. "No, there's
just the chance of its being in the drawer at home. I feel all in a
fever till I get there to look. But don't you say anything about it,
Miss Flossie; it's my own fault, and no one must be troubled about it
but myself."
"Poor nursie," said Floss, "I'm so sorry. But you're sure to find it in
your drawer. Let's go home very fast. Carrots," she called out to the
little figure obediently trotting on in front, "Carrots, come and walk
with nursie and me now. Nurse isn't vexed."
Carrots turned back, looking up wistfully in nurse's face.
"Poor darlings," said the old woman to herself, "such a shame of me to
have spoilt their walk!"
And all the way home, "to make up," she was even kinder than usual.
But her hopes of finding the lost piece of money were disappointed. She
searched all through the drawer in vain; there was no half-sovereign to
be seen. Suddenly it struck her that Carrots had been busy "tidying" for
Floss that morning.
"Master Carrots, my dear," she said, "when you were busy at Miss Floss's
drawer to-day, you didn't open mine, did you, and touch anything in it?"
"Oh, no," said Carrots, at once, "I'm quite, quite _sure_ I didn't,
nursie."
"You're sure you didn't touch nurse's purse, or a little tiny packet of
white paper, in her drawer?" inquired Floss, with an instinct that the
circumstantial details might possibly recall some forgotten remembrance
to his mind.
"_Quite_ sure," said Carrots, looking straight up in their faces with a
thoughtful, but not uncertain expression in his brown eyes.
"Because nurse has lost something out of her drawer, you see, Carrots
dear, and she is very sorry about it," continued Floss.
"What has she lost? But I'm _sure_," repeated Carrots, "I didn't touch
nurse's drawer, nor nucken in it. What has nurse lost?"
"A half-sovereign--" began Floss, but nurse interrupted her.
"Don't tease him any more about it," she said; "it's plain he doesn't
know, and I wouldn't like the other servants to hear. Just forget about
it, Master Carrots, my dear, perhaps nurse will find it some day."
So Carrots, literally obedient, asked no more questions. He only said to
himself, with a puzzled look on his face, "A half sovereign! I didn't
know nurse had any sovereigns--I thought only Floss had--and I never saw
any broken in halfs!"
But as no more was said in his hearing about the matter, it passed from
his innocent mind.
Nurse thought it right to tell the children's mother of her loss, and
the girls and Maurice heard of it too. They all were very sorry for
nurse, for she took her own carelessness rather sorely to heart. But by
her wish, nothing was said of it to the two other servants, one of whom
had only lately come, though the other had been with them many years.
"I'd rather by far bear the loss," said nurse, "than cause any
ill-feeling about it, ma'am."
And her mistress gave in to her. "Though certainly _you_ must not bear
the loss, nurse," she said, kindly; "for in all these years you have
saved me too many half-sovereigns and whole ones too for me to mind much
about the loss of one. And you've asked Carrots, you say; you're sure he
knows nothing about it?"
"Quite sure, ma'am," said nurse, unhesitatingly.
And several days went on, and nothing more was said or heard about the
half-sovereign. Only all this time the little yellow sixpenny lay safely
hidden away in Carrots' paint-box.
In a sense he had forgotten about it. He knew it was safe there, and he
had almost fixed in his mind not to tell Floss about it till the day
they should be going to the toy-shop to buy their hoops. Once or twice
he had been on the point of showing it to her, but had stopped short,
thinking how much more delightful it would be to "surprise" her. He had
quite left off puzzling his head as to where the little coin had come
from; he had found it in Floss's drawer, that was quite enough. If he
had any thoughts about its history, they were that either Floss had had
"the sixpenny" a long time ago and had forgotten it, or that the fairies
had brought it; and on the whole he inclined to the latter explanation,
for you see there was something different about this sixpenny to any he
had ever seen before.
Very likely "fairies' sixpennies" are always that pretty yellow colour,
he thought.
One day, about a week after the loss of the half-sovereign, Maurice
happened to come into the nursery just at the little ones' tea-time. It
was a half-holiday, and he had been out a long walk with some of his
companions, for he still went to school at Sandyshore, and now he had
come in tremendously hungry and thirsty.
"I say, nurse," he exclaimed, seating himself unceremoniously at the
table, "I'm awfully hungry, and mamma's out, and we shan't have tea for
two hours yet. And Carrots, young man, I want your paint-box; mine's all
gone to smash, and Cecil won't lend me hers, and I want to paint flags
with stars and stripes for my new boat."
"Tars and tipes," repeated Carrots, "what's tars and tipes?"
"What's that to you?" replied Mott, politely. "Bless me, I am so
thirsty. Give me your tea, Carrots, and nurse will make you some more.
What awful weak stuff! But I'm too thirsty to wait."
He seized Carrots' mug and drank off its contents at one draught. But
when he put the mug down he made a _very_ wry face.
"What horrible stuff!" he exclaimed. "Nurse, you've forgotten to put in
any sugar."
"No, she hasn't," said Carrots, bluntly.
Nurse smiled, but said nothing, and Floss looked fidgety.
"What do you mean?" said Mott. "Don't you like sugar--eh, young 'un?"
"Yes, I do like it," replied Carrots, but he would say no more.
Floss grew more and more uneasy.
"Oh, Mott," she burst out, "please don't tease Carrots. It's nothing
wrong; it's only something we've planned ourselves."
Mott's curiosity was by this time thoroughly aroused.
"A secret, is it?" he exclaimed, pricking up his ears; "you'd best tell
it me. I'm a duffer at keeping secrets. Out with it."
Floss looked ready to cry, and Carrots shut his mouth tight, as if
determined not to give in. Nurse thought it time to interfere.
"Master Maurice," she said, appealingly, "don't tease the poor little
things, there's a good boy. If it is a secret, there's no harm in it,
you may be sure."
"Tease!" repeated Mott, virtuously, "I'm not teasing. I only want to
know what the mystery is--why shouldn't I? I won't interfere."
Now Mott was just at the age when the spirit of mischief is most apt to
get thorough hold of a boy; and once this _is_ the case, who can say
where or at what a boy will stop? Every opposition or contradiction only
adds fuel to the flames, and not seldom a tiny spark may thus end in a
great fire. Nurse knew something of boys in general, and of Mott in
particular; and knowing what she did, she decided in her own mind that
she had better take the bull by the horns without delay.
"Miss Floss," she said seriously, "and Master Carrots, I think you had
better tell your brother your secret. He'll be very kind about it,
you'll see, and he won't tell anybody."
"Won't you, Mott?" said Floss, jumping up and down on her chair in her
anxiety. "Promise."
"Honour bright," said Mott.
Carrots opened his mouth as if about to speak, but shut it down again.
"What were _you_ going to say?" said Mott.
"Nucken," replied Carrots.
"People don't open their mouths like that, if they've 'nucken' to say,"
said Mott, as if he didn't believe Carrots.
"I didn't mean that I wasn't _going_ to say nucken," said Carrots, "I
mean I haven't nucken to say now."
"And what were you going to say?" persisted Mott.
Carrots looked frightened.
"I was only sinking if you knowed, and nurse knowed, and Floss knowed,
and I knowed, it wouldn't be a secret."
Mott burst out laughing.
"What a precious goose you are," he exclaimed. "Well, secret or no
secret, I'm going to hear it; so tell me."
Floss looked at nurse despairingly.
"You tell, nurse, please," she said.
So nurse told, and Maurice looked more amused than ever. "What an idea!"
he exclaimed. "I don't believe Carrots'll hold out for a month, whatever
Floss may do, unless he has a precious lump of ac--ac--what is it the
head people call it?--acquisitiveness for his age. But you needn't have
made such a fuss about your precious secret. Here, nurse, give us some
tea, and you may put in all the sugar Floss and Carrots have saved by
now."
Floss and Carrots looked ready to cry, but nurse reassured them.
"Never you fear," she said; "he shall have what's proper, but no more.
Never was such a boy for sweet things as you, Master Mott."
"It shows in my temper, doesn't it?" he said saucily. And then he was so
pleased with his own wit that for a few minutes he forgot to tease,
occupying himself by eating lots of bread and butter instead, so that
tea went on peaceably.